Foo Fighters: Wasting Light (2011)
Review written by Steven M. Duarte
The long awaited album from the Foo Fighters finally been laid upon us and boy was it worth the wait. About two months ago we were teased with a taste of the new album with the low budget music video of White Limo. The video had Lemmy In it which pretty much makes it instantly awesome. Aside from the video the song showed a bit of Foo’s heavier side.
Although White Limo made it sound like we were going to have a heavy album, the rest of the album tends to fall more on the rock/alternative sound. Now in no way am I saying they have gone light as I would still categorized them as hard rock but going off White Limo which was the first thing we had heard from Foo regarding this new album I was expecting a much heavier album. Many good tracks are to be found on Wasting Light. In fact I would go as far as saying there is not one bad or “filler” track on the album. This really is an album you can play from start to finish without skipping tracks. Majority of the sound are so damn catchy as well. From Dear Rosemary to the radio friendly Rope you will find yourself going back and re listening to certain songs found on the album.
The Foo Fighters have always had that appeal to the mainstream without selling themselves out at the same time. Wasting Light is a good example of this as any casual music fan can pick this album up and listen to any track on the album. They still appeal to the hardcore rock fan as they have a bit of everything. You can head bang to White Limo or sit back and relax to the melodic I Should Have Know.
Final words
The last rock album I had purchased and was able to sit through the entire album without skipping tracks was Deftones' "Diamond Eyes", released close to this same time last year. I would go as far as saying this is the best Rock album of the year, and, yes, I realize we still have 8 months left in the year, but "Wasting Light" is just that damn good.
Track List:
1. "Bridge Burning" 4:47
2. "Rope" 4:19
3. "Dear Rosemary" 4:26
4. "White Limo" 3:22
5. "Arlandria" 4:28
6. "These Days" 4:58
7. "Back & Forth" 3:52
8. "A Matter of Time" 4:36
9. "Miss the Misery" 4:33
10. "I Should Have Known" 4:16
11. "Walk" 4:16
--Steven M. Duarte
Tears Run Rings- Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never (2008)
reviewed by Nickolas Cook
There's a lot of great gothic dark music still out there, even now, way past the halcyon years of The Cure, Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins in the 80s and early 90s. I ran across one such group a few months ago, Tears Run Rings, with their debut album, "Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never", which hits all the right chords. It's filled with that distinctive jangly and ethereal sound which distinguishes the dream pop sound I so loved back in my youth. It's obvious the band has a strong attachment to the older sound; they seem to be a second generation of those bands, using much of the same effects and techniques of those same dream pop/ambient alt bands of old. "Mind the Wires" became a fairly well known song on the college and indie radio stations, but the album is filled with many songs that speak to the old school melancholic sound of the 80s dream pop/ambient bands. If you pine for such music,then this is the album for you and the band for you. Give it a listen. You will be very pleased with their sound.
Tracks:
1 Happiness Part One 1:11
2 How Will The Others Survive? 4:26
3 Beautiful Stranger 4:11
4 Fall Into Light 4:55
5 The Weight Of Love 5:02
6 World Upside Down 3:26
7 Waiting For The End 4:34
8 Mind The Wires 4:54
9 Run Run Run 4:43
10 Send Me Back 3:28
11 Happiness Part Two 2:21
Check out their official website here: http://www.tearsrunrings.com/
--Nickolas Cook
This Mortal Coil- Filigree and Shadow (1986)
review written by Nickolas Cook
Speaking of old school ambient/goth/dream pop music, 4AD Records, a label that still has some great music coming out, had a great idea back in the 80s and early 90s: create a supergroup of various musicians known in the goth/dream pop/ambient music world and give them free reign to make their own album. "Filigree and Shadow" has some of the greatest names of those sub-genres of music, including members of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance and others. They managed to create an anomoly in the music world: a thoroughly unique album of music that is listenable but has no place in the radio listening public. I know that doesn't make much sense, but to hear the strangely unique compositions on this album is to understand what I mean. They are not radio friendly songs. They either go too long or too short for such lowest common denominator listening. And there are some effects used on the album that just won't have an audience in this day of Lady GaGa and other bubblegum pop bullshit artists. This is an album for adults, by adults, from a unique time in indie music.
Tracks:
Side one
1."Velvet Belly" - 1:19
2."The Jeweller" (Vocals by Dominic Appleton) (Pearls Before Swine) - 3:15
3."Ivy and Neet" - 4:48
4."Meniscus" - 2:28
5."Tears" - 0:21
6."Tarantula" (Vocals by Dominic Appleton, Deirdre & Louise Rutkowski) (Colourbox) - 4:58
Side two
1."My Father" (Vocals by Alison Limerick) (Judy Collins) - 5:58
2."Come Here My Love" (Vocals by Jean) (Van Morrison) - 3:42
3."At First, and Then" - 1:58
4."Strength of Strings" (Vocals by Dominic Appleton) (Gene Clark) - 4:41
5."Morning Glory" (Vocals by Deirdre & Louise Rutkowski) (Tim Buckley) - 2:56
Side three
1."Inch-Blue" - 1:08
2."I Want to Live" (Vocals by Deirdre & Louise Rutkowski) (Gary Ogan & Bill Lamb) - 4:05
3."Mama K"(1) - 0:53
4."Filigree & Shadow" - 1:19
5."Firebrothers" (Vocals by Richenel) (Quicksilver Messenger Service) - 3:53
6."Thaïs"(1) - 1:08
7."I Must Have Been Blind" (Vocals by Richenel) (Tim Buckley) - 3:30
8."A Heart of Glass" - 3:45
Side four
1."Alone" (Vocals by Caroline Seaman & Alison Limerick) (Colin Newman) - 4:13
2."Mama K"(2) - 0:34
3."The Horizon Bleeds and Sucks Its Thumb" - 2:53
4."Drugs" (Vocals by Alison Limerick) (Talking Heads) - 3:09
5."Red Rain" (Vocals by Caroline Seaman) - 3:52
6."Thaïs"(2) - 3:13
Visit their official web site on 4AD's site: http://www.4ad.com/thismortalcoil/
--Nickolas Cook
Grant Lee Buffalo- Mighty Joe Moon (1994)
review written by Nickolas Cook
"Mighty Joe Moon" happens to be one the most important albums of my young adult years. The songs on this album hang round my soul like sweet rememeberances of those long ago 90s. It was a decade of alternative music as king of music and there were a lot of bands back then who made it, which could not have gotten a second listen now. Grant Lee Buffalo was a trio of musicians who played style of folk alternative rock music, using various stringed instruments that one didn't usually find outside of an R.E.M. album. Lead vocalist Grant Lee Phillips has a distinctive style: not hard rocking at all, but sweetly melancholic, built on high end octaves. The lyrics contain imagery that sits high above most of the mid-90s songs. My personal favorites on the album are their biggest hits, "Mockingbirds", "Lone Star Song", "Honey Don't Think" and "Rock of Ages", a song that's almost gospel in content, but there isn't a weak song to be found on "Mighty Joe Moon". Each song hits a mature note of the human condition that one doesn't usually find on an alt-rock album, especially now. All in all, I have, for many years, considered this one of the most important albums to come out of that period in music. Give it a listen and you'll most likely be a fan as well.
Tracks:
1."Lone Star Song"
2."Mockingbirds"
3."It's The Life"
4."Sing Along"
5."Mighty Joe Moon"
6."Demon Called Deception"
7."Lady Godiva And Me"
8."Drag"
9."Last Days Of Tecumseh"
10."Happiness"
11."Honey Don't Think"
12."Side By Side"
13."Rock Of Ages"
http://www.grantleebuffalo.com/
--Nickolas Cook
